Friday, April 13, 2007

Alms for the Poor? Or Funding for the Jihad?

zakat.jpg

byKim Riddlebarger @ http://kimriddlebarger.squarespace.com

One of the Five Pillars of Islam is Zakat, which is the giving of 2.5% of one's wealth to support various Islamic causes, such as helping the poor, releasing people from debt, or for the propagation of Islam.

A recent report from Judicial Watch, indicates that a great deal of the money given to Islamic charities in the United States, actually makes its way to various groups funding and supporting terrorism (Click here: Judicial Watch).

"According to the report’s introduction: `While the U.S. government finally has taken action against some of the groups identified by Judicial Watch, others are still functioning. The federal government is aware of their presence and the danger they pose to our national security. The question is: Why are they still in operation?' (Following the attacks of 9/11, Judicial Watch filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against non-profit organizations, `reportedly being used as money laundering front organizations for radical Islamic terrorists.') Among the highlights from the Muslim front organization report:

• The Islamic Society of North America enforces Wahhabi [extreme Islamism] theology in the country’s 1,200 official recognized mosques and has allegedly helped turn the federal prison system into a fertile recruiting ground for al Qaeda. In 2005, the organization received a White House invitation to send a representative to participate in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Representatives’ White House Leadership Conference.

• According to Hamza Yusuf, a board member of the Council for American Islamic Relations, `[America] is facing a terrible fate, and the reason for that is because the country stands condemned.' Yet, the Department of Homeland Security recently published an online press release from the organization expressing its approval of the Transportation and Safety Administration’s `sensitivity training' program about Islamic traditions.

• The North American Islamic Trust, which operates out of Illinois, owns between 50 and 80 percent of North American mosques. Authorities say the organization is used as a funnel for Saudi and other gulf money to spread an anti-American brand of Islamic fundamentalism in American mosques from southern California to South Carolina.

• In 2005, the Islamic Council for North America, based in New York, was under investigation for its connection to a violent Pakistani terrorist group with al Qaeda links.

`This report carefully documents connections between so-called Muslim charities in the U.S. and the terrorists who murder innocents,' said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. `The federal government should no longer coddle terrorist front groups in the name of political correctness. Any organization that funds terror should be shut down immediately.'”

To read the Judical Watch report,Click here: http://www.judicialwatch.org/archive/2007/SR_muslimorg.pdf

I'm glad someone keeps watch on this kind of stuff!

No comments: